FOOTBALL: County League weekly round-up

Some of the players in Golds' squad played at United last season, when John Suter, current Littlehampton joint manager, was in charge at The Robert Albon Memorial Ground. And he saw his new team defeat his former club 2-0 to progress into a second-round tie away to Sidley or Oakwood with their first win of the season.

Both sides were greeted with a strong wind that was always going to have an effect on the football on show.

United had the ball in the net first but Matt Balmer's curler was ruled offside. Their were chances at both ends in the first half, and United's Richard Carter found Golds keeper James Askew's legs from a free header just a few yards out.

Littlehampton went ahead after 28 minutes from a Matt Russell goal, that had more than a suspicion of offside about it. Tom White's shot found Russell, six yards out, and he coolly slotted home under little pressure.

Mavericks' Grant Philpott was lucky to stay on the park when, having already been booked for a trip on Joel Sayers, proceeded to inform the referee of his opinion on his performance in not the most complimentary of terms.

The second half was bossed by Golds, whose midfield trio of Tom White, Ryan Hudson and Billy Rayner, along with front man Russell, were impressive all game.

The game was made safe when Ross McKay headed in a corner from close-range on 61 minutes when the ball should have been easily cleared by the United defence.

McKay had the ball in the net again on 75 minutes but was adjudged to have pushed his marker.

Slack defending from Golds almost let United back in but the finishing left a little to be desired. Littlehampton cruised home and certainly deserved the win, despite a little panic setting in near the end.

Littlehampton joint manager Suter said: "I thought we played well tonight and deserved the win. It's nice to get off the mark for the season".

Suter blamed too many defensive mistakes for his side's 5-0 loss at division-higher Redhill in the John O'Hara Cup on Saturday.

He said: "I wasn't pleased at all. They are a good side and full of pace and until the first goal went in there was nothing between us. It was a defensive mistake for the first and we had Gary Young down

injured when the second went in, after play broke down his wing. I'm never seen a goal like the third one, there must have been just 10 playing seconds between the goals."

LITTLEHAMPTON v United: Askew; Ward, Hazell, Crawford, McKay; Sayers, Russell, White, Hudson; Rayner, Minter. Subs: Manning (Rayner 83), Gritt, Young, Robertshaw, Stone.

v Redhill: Stoner; Ward, Hazell, McKay, Young; Robertshaw, Hudson, Rayner, Manning, Stone; Russell. Subs: Sayers (Young 33), Hand (Manning 45), Stone (Crawford 75).

Arundel earned a 0-0 draw at Selsey on Tuesday in a game where both sides finished with 10 men.

Selsey's Jamie Angell was dismissed in the first half for two bookings before Mullets' Josh Biggs had a penalty saved early in the second period.

Arundel had Dave Walker red-carded with 15 minutes left for two bookings.

Mullets boss Richard Towers said: "We had a lot of opportunities and it was a game we should have won."

Towers was frustrated with his team's 3-2 defeat at high-flying Whitehawk on Saturday, but was pleased with his side's performance. He said: "We played quite well, and I think we deserved something from it.

It's frustrating but I'm quite pleased because we played some good football. Young Rhys Griffiths played very well in goal for us on his debut."

Marc Whiteman's double fired Hawks 2-0 ahead before Josh Biggs pulled a goal back. Ashley Martin had an effort saved, before Whiteman completed his hat-trick to give Hawks a 3-1 lead. Biggs knocked home from Rob Grove's cross to make it 3-2 before he fired a hat-trick opportunity wide.

ARUNDEL v Selsey: Arnell; Foster, Wimbleton, D.Walker, Axell; Biggs, Hall, Hamilton, Hardwell; Leggett, Tipper. Subs: Rowlands (Tipper 40), Grove, L.Walker.

v Whitehawk: Griffiths; Foster, D.Walker, Hall, Axell; Rowlands, Grove, Hardwell, Biggs; Bassil, Martin. Subs: L.Walker (Foster 45), Leggatt (Rowlands 60), Hall, Tipper, Matt Huckett.

Rustington manager Pete Matthews was disappointed with his side's performance in their 2-1 defeat at Loxwood in Division 2 on Saturday. He said: "Both of their goals came from long throw-ins, which was disappointing because both were defended poorly.

"I thought we deserved to win, and I'm frustrated, particularly after we got off to such a good start. We missed too many chances, and that cost us."

Blues went ahead in just the second minute when Phil Churchill knocked home the rebound from Steve Kirkham's parried effort.

Loxwood equalised through Claude Pett on 16 minutes before they took all three points through Grant Miller's strike two minutes later.

RUSTINGTON; McCarthy; Goff, Curtis, Bashford, Duffy; Green, J.Matthews, C.Matthews, Bennett; Kirkham, Churchill. Subs: Stock (Bennett 20), Boxall (Churchill 30), Cox (Kirkham 70).

Clymping player-manager Dominic Di Paola was frustrated with referee Paul John's performance after his side lost 3-2 at Worthing United on Friday.

Di Paola felt his side should have had a penalty, rather than a free kick, that two of United's goals should not have counted and two United players should have been sent-off.

He said: "For their second goal, Darren Annis dragged the ball with his hand and it was missed. And, for their third, we were fouled in the centre of the park but he played an advantage to us but they went and scored straight away.

"Finally, with 25 minutes to go we were robbed of an equaliser. Richard Ghent broke through and the last man pulled him down inside the box. We still managed to get the ball in the back of the net, but it was pulled back for a free kick and the defender didn't even get booked.

"We also were very sloppy to concede all three goals, but it is just very frustrating as we deserved more from the match."

A Julian Curnow own goal gave Clymping an early lead but Gareth Green levelled on three minutes.

Barnard restored Clymping's lead when he tapped home Richy Moss' cross after 13 minutes. Darren Annis then bagged a brace before half-time to give United all three points.

CLYMPING: Oakley; Stokes, S.Di Paola, Young, D.Di Paola; Castro, Shelley, Meehan, Moss; Ghent, Barnard. Subs: Brown (D.Di Paola 70), Quirosa (Barnard 80), Miller, Churcher, Raynsford.

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